Impossible

How Soon Is Now?

Edward walked into a disaster zone. The floor of Jessica's bedroom was covered in paper, some crumpled and he tried to not step on any. Jessica was sitting on her bed, writing in a notebook and looking frustrated. Without looking at him, she ripped the page she'd been writing it on, crumpled it into a ball and threw it across the room. He was only able to dodge it due to his super speed.

"Hello to you too," he said drily. "What did I do this time?'

"Not about you," she grumbled, writing on a fresh page. "It's this stupid graduation speech."

"Haven't figured that out yet?" He bent down and picked up one of her discarded drafts and began reading it aloud. "Don't fuck up the world more than it already is. I think the school might not care for the language."

She stopped writing, dropping her pen and notebook on the bed, and covered her face in her hands. "Why did they choose me? I suck at speeches."

"Your speeches when you were running for student council were fine," he pointed out. "And the speech comes with valedictorian territory. Would you rather Eric do it instead?"

"Yes. I mean no," She sighed. "And Angela helped me with my speeches before."

"Why not ask for her help again?"

"I did. She said 'speak from the heart', as if that helps me."

He picked up another discarded speech and read it. "We'll probably never see each other again after this and that's not a bad thing. Is this how you really feel about our peers?"

"You should read the one by your left."

"Life is too short and the world is going to end anyway so do what you want," He laughed. "Well, you're not wrong."

She glared at him. "Be serious. I have two days before I have to give that speech in front of our entire class, their parents, and the school faculty. I mess this up and people will remember."

"People don't remember these things as well as you think," he told her and took a seat beside her on the bed. "Just make your speech as generic as possible and everything will be fine."

"I don't do generic," That sounded incredibly lazy and that wasn't Jessica. "You've listened to a bunch of speeches over the years, what made the good ones stand out?"

He looked thoughtful. "Charisma? A certain verbosity?"

"The school guidance counselor said I was 'abrasive'," she grumbled. "And I just don't want to ramble on forever until they want to cart me away from the podium."

"Alright. How about take Angela's advice? Speak from the heart," At her exasperated look, he handed her the pen and notebook again. "You have lived in Forks since you were three. You know everyone in our class. This little town has been your world as far back as you can remember. Your triumphs, failures, and fears were all in this rainy little corner. In all that time, what have you learned?"

"A lot," She stared down at the blank page. "And there's still a lot to learn. None of us are done growing. We're still becoming people."

"Yes, and in this moment what lesson do you want them to remember as they leave here and go on their journey to becoming themselves?"

She looked at him and the encouragement on his face. He had been the thing that had surprised her the most this past year, aside from the vampire thing. How he had gone to stranger to somebody she truly cared for and it had taken months, like rain filling an empty, to become what they were. And there was still so much to do and see, she had all this time to full with him even if in his existence it would be just a minute.